doodle by andre: composting do’s and don’ts

SOME THINGS CAN’T BE COMPOSTED, I was explaining to Andre the Doodler the other day on a Skype call–you know, like meat and bone and fats, I said. “I see,” said Andre, as if he was taking it all in and making notes. “That would make a good doodle.” I am here to report that I never mentioned two of the four items in his handy “List of Things Suitable for Compost Heap.” You can try to guess which ones are Andre’s suggestions versus mine. Ah, the minds of men–or one British man turned South Dakotan, particularly!

I’m a little silly about my composter and composting in general. I plunge my gloved hands into its depth regularly to “bond” and make sure my fat juicy worms get access to all the decomposing glop. One site I read says you can and should use dryer lint screen offerings, and they seem to work just fine.

I like the new format. It seems a little more user friendly and cleaner now that I have something to compare the old one too that is! I love your blog so whatever you do I will like. I really like that I can see several posts on the page. I’m so happy that spring is almost here in Nebraska!

Makes me want to start composting (In 3 story townhomes with no yard and a 6′ x 8′ 2nd story deck reserved for herbs and veggies you just can’t) and go on a treasure hunt to find things to compost (and things for Andre to draw!)

Reading the new site on IPhone, I have to say this is one of the best mobile sites I have ever seen. super fast loading, clear, and comprehensive. May I ask which Mobile plugin you’re using? I’m also on the Genesis framework. Love the Andre doodles too, and never thought about composting paper, although I can imagine wind would likely be a problem keeping the contents of my shredder there. Congrats all round!

Hi, Joanna. I think we simply built off the “responsive design” features in Genesis and went from there. Genesis 1.8 has this functionality. I don’t do the dev work myself, but I can ask if you need more detail.

I stick a couple of cylindrical tomato cages in my compost pile toward the end of leaf season with pots at the base to harden the sides, then put my kitchen scraps into the resulting 4′-5′ deep pits throughout winter, and this would include the mice that perish in the kitchen traps. Putting their remains to good use, haven’t had a problem.

Hi, Francie. Here in the woods we just get wild animals fighting over the discarded body parts. :) I don’t put anything with grease/fat/oil in the heap; strictly plant matter (whether pre-digested by an animal, as manure, or “fresh”). The only animal product I do add here is eggshells.

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Quotes

Give to Nature, and she will repay you with glorious abundance.

—Alan Chadwick

Welcome! I’m Margaret Roach, a leading garden writer for 25 years—at ‘Martha Stewart Living,’ ‘Newsday,’ and in three books. I host a public-radio podcast; I also lecture, plus hold tours at my 2.3-acre Hudson Valley (NY) Zone 5B garden, and always say no to chemicals and yes to great plants.